A deal would see Deutsche Telekom’s stake in the carrier, which merged with SoftBank’s wireless unit Sprint last month, rise above 50%, the report said.

SoftBank is widely expected to try and monetise its T-Mobile stake as it looks to raise $41 billion through asset sales to prop up its floundering tech investing empire and fund a record share buyback.

Including the talks with Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank plans to seek buyers for about $20 billion of its shares in T-Mobile, working with banks including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc to round up investors, WSJ said in a separate report on Monday. (on.wsj.com/2ThGFwy)

SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom did not respond to requests for comment.

Lock-up provisions agreed to as part of the merger would likely be altered to permit the transaction with Deutsche Telekom, the WSJ said.